Invest in the YC and EF Demo Day Syndicates
Invest in the YC and EF Demo Day Syndicates
Two exciting opportunities to invest in the future via Odin, plus some comments on the last two weeks of madness.
Hi folks, Patrick Ryan here from Odin.
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Y Combinator W23 Syndicate
Since starting in 2005, Y Combinator has funded over 4,000 startups, with a combined value of close to $1 trillion. They have created more unicorns (companies valued over $1b) than any other fund or accelerator in the world.
YC has historically created ~5 unicorns per batch, a better hit rate than almost any VC firm. This makes the companies in each batch an attractive pool of companies to "index".
We are partnering with solo-GP Juan Abundes to select and invest in 5-10 companies from the Winter 2023 batch.
The minimum investment for this syndicate is $20,000, and funds will be spread evenly across the selected companies. Investors won’t get to pick deals.
Allocation is always tight on this, so I would recommend committing early to avoid disappointment.
We will need all hard commitments by March 31st.
There is a webinar (recorded) at 1700 GMT tomorrow - sign up to participate.
Read more about Juan and the syndicate.
Entrepreneur First Angel Syndicate
I’m very excited to announce that we are partnering with EF to provide angel investors with access to their next batch of companies!
For those of you who don’t know, EF is a global company builder and talent investor. They bring together incredibly talented scientists and young entrepreneurs, and create companies. The total Enterprise value of EF Companies is over $10B. Top portfolio companies include Tractable, Aztec, Cleo, Accurx, and Omnipresent.
I’ll be writing a full piece on EF soon. For now, if you’re interested in accessing the next batch of EF companies add your name here.
You’ll have the opportunity to pick deals and access them via a number of angel syndicates who use Odin’s platform. And best of all, these deals will be S/EIS qualifying for UK investors! Get some of that juicy tax relief.
Best of the Internet
What a whirlwind few weeks.
First SVB, then Credit Suisse
Who’s next? Who knows.
Talks of hyperinflation and bets on Bitcoin going to $1m
Former Coinbase CTO, economic commentator and flaneur Balaji Srinivasan has made a bet with 2 people that Bitcoin is going to increase in value ~40x to $1m in the next 3 months.
For this to happen, the dollar would need to completely collapse.
Balaji has his biases, but I don’t think he cares about pumping his net worth, so IMO he legitimately sees a risk of total meltdown. He isn’t doing this to get rich by shilling Bitcoin.
The reason Bitcoin prices are starting to rise is linked to the banking crisis - it’s basically possible that a lot of smaller banks are in a similar situation to SVB, sitting on significant losses due to bad investments in bonds.
If a run on the banks happens at scale, banks only have about 6% of the cash deposited with them actually available to give to depositors (since the rest is sitting in investments). So if everyone tries to withdraw at once, the whole system will fall apart.
The Federal Reserve has begun printing more money to bail some banks out, and this is driving down the value of the dollar. If they start bailing more banks out, this is going to get worse.
Hence “buy bitcoin, be your own bank, the dollar is becoming worthless.”
But it’s complicated. There’s an interesting game theory side to this - I for one am very invested in banks not collapsing. I think most people are. So I’m hedging with a bit of bitcoin, but I’m not all in.
If you’re interested in how all of this macro stuff is affecting the startup funding environment, Graham Paterson wrote a good piece.
Riots on the streets of Tel Aviv
And, of course, Generative AI and large language models changing the future of humanity
I’d understand if you’re feeling a little bit overwhelmed by the news these days.
I am reminded at times like this of a quote by famed angel investor Fabrice Grinda, from his article "Welcome to the Everything Bubble":
"I do not even own stocks. I have a barbell strategy with only cash and early illiquid privately held tech startups. If you have enough diversification (meaning over 100 investments) to account for the startups that fail, private early-stage tech startups are the best asset class. They create value for the economy and can grow rapidly.
As such they are amazing to own in both inflationary and deflationary environments.
Of course, I’m biased, but I agree.
With that in mind, choose your fighter:
Risk Warning
The content of this promotion has not been approved by an authorised person within the meaning of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Reliance on this promotion for the purpose of engaging in any investment activity may expose you to a significant risk of losing all of your property or other assets invested. This promotion is exempt from the general restriction in section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 on the communication of invitations or inducements to engage in investment activity on the grounds that is being made to certain categories of exempted persons. Any person who is in any doubt about the investment to which this promotion relates should consult an authorised person specialising in unquoted investments. Investing in start-ups and early stage businesses involves risks, including illiquidity, lack of dividends, loss of investment and dilution, and it should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. Odin is targeted exclusively at investors who are sufficiently sophisticated to understand these risks and make their own investment decisions. You will only be able to invest via Odin once you are registered as sufficiently sophisticated. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice.
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https://fabricegrinda.com/welcome-to-the-everything-bubble/